Rose McGowan on Harvey Weinstein’s Conviction Overturn: ‘We Know the Truth’

Rose McGowan is sharing some words of encouragement to “everyone out there fighting the good fight” in the wake of the recent overturning of Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 convictions in New York.

In an impassioned Reel posted to Instagram on Thursday, April 25, the Jawbreaker actress told her followers, “I’m proud of how far we’ve come. How much we’ve awakened. What we know of ourselves to be true. And what we know of others to be true.”

“No matter what they overturn, they cannot take away who we are, what we know, what we’ve gone through and what we can achieve in this life,” continued McGowan, 50. “We are not victims. We are people that were injured by evil. And the evil sticks together, as witnessed and evidenced today, but we are better.”

McGowan — who first accused Weinstein, 72, of rape in October 2017 and later addressed the incident in her 2018 book Brave — continued in her Thursday video, “To everyone out there fighting the good fight against this evil, these entities, these dark beings: You are light. You are beautiful. You matter. I’m with you.”

“Some days we get knocked on our butts more days than others. But we can rise. And we can find the tiny joys no matter what, okay? Shed those tears,” she went on. “You are brave, you are beautiful, you are strong. We know the truth. … We know what we are, and what they are.”

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“You’re amazing. And I’m proud of you, and everything you’ve gone through and achieved to get this far,” the Planet Terror actress added. “Tomorrow, we will rise, stand up, dust ourselves off and look for every little ounce of joy and beauty in this world that we can. Much love.”

McGowan captioned the video, “They will never overturn who we are. Blessings to all who gave their all #spirit #courage #unity.”

The convictions being overturned comes after Weinstein’s attorney Arthur Aidala claimed his client didn’t receive a fair trial due to decisions of judge James Burke — in particular, permitting three women whose allegations weren’t included in the case to testify against him, and prosecutors to potentially confront him about his general behavior, The Associated Press reported. Aidala claimed these decisions by Burke meant Weinstein’s character was on trial, rather than the allegations at hand.

Weinstein was found guilty in February 2020 of criminal sexual act in the first degree and rape in the third degree in a New York City courtroom, The New York Times reported then. He was subsequently sentenced to prison for 23 years.

The disgraced film mogul was charged after being accused of forcibly performing oral sex on a woman in 2006 and raping another woman in 2013, PBS reported.

It is unclear at this time whether Weinstein will face another trial in connection with these charges, but he will remain behind bars because of his 2022 convictions for sex-crimes charges in California.

During a separate trial that December, Weinstein was convicted of one count of forcible rape, one count of forced oral copulation and one count of sexual penetration by a foreign object in Los Angeles, the city’s District Attorney’s Office announced in a news release at the time.

He was sentenced to an additional 16 years in prison, the Los Angeles Times reported at the time. These charges stemmed from a 2013 assault, according to the release.

McGowan is among multiple Weinstein accusers, including Ashley Judd and Mira Sorvino, who have spoken out since the court’s decision Thursday to overturn the once-prominent Hollywood producer’s 2020 convictions in New York State for rape and sexual assault.

“We still live in our truth. And we know what happened,” Judd, 56. said in a statement to The New York Times.

Sorvino, 56, expressed her frustration with the ruling on social media, writing in an X (formerly known as Twitter) post, “Horrified! Day after #DenimDay honoring sexual violence survivors, Harvey Weinstein’s conviction overturned, due partly to molyneux witnesses testifying to prior bad acts, like lioness Annabella Sciorra.” (Denim Day is a campaign that runs during Sexual Assault Awareness Month and brings awareness to combating victim blaming, as well as educating the public about sexual violence.)

“Since when don’t courts allow evidence of pattern of prior bad acts to be admitted,” Sorvino added. “Disgusted w/ justice system skew twds predators not victims.”

The Academy Award winner then shared a screenshot of her post to her Instagram grid in a slideshow that also included an announcement of the ruling.

“Gutsick. To all of my sister/brother/fellow survivors out there, it just means we have to love harder, and fight harder. Evil rears its ugly head but we are the army of light and will prevail,” she wrote in the Instagram caption.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.